Thus building themselves up, and thus growing, the Church 'was
multiplied.' Of course it was. Christian men and women that are
spiritually alive, and who, because they are alive, grow, and grow in
these things, the manifest reverence of God, and the manifest 'comfort'
of the divine Spirit's giving, will commend their gospel to a blind
world. They will be an attractive force in the midst of men, and their
inward growth will make them eager to hold forth the word of life, and
will give them 'a mouth and wisdom' which nothing but genuine spiritual
experience can give.
And so, dear friends, especially those of you who set yourselves to any
of the many forms of Christian work which prevail in this day, learn
the lesson of my text, and make sure of '_a_' before you go on to
'_b_,' and see to it that before you set yourselves to try to multiply
the Church, you set yourselves to build up yourselves in your most holy
faith.
We hear a great deal nowadays about 'forward movements,' and I
sympathise with all that is said in favour of them. But I would remind
you that the precursor of every genuine forward movement is a Godward
movement, and that it is worse than useless to talk about lengthening
the cords unless you begin with strengthening the stakes. The little
prop that holds up the bell-tent that will contain half-a-dozen
soldiers will be all too weak for the great one that will cover a
company. And the fault of some Christian people is that they set
themselves to work upon others without remembering that the first
requisite is a deepened and growing godliness and devotion in their own
souls. Dear friends, begin at home, and remember that whilst what the
world calls eloquence may draw people, and oddities _will_ draw them,
and all sorts of lower attractions will gather multitudes for a little
while, the one solid power which Christian men and women can exercise
for the numerical increase of the Church is rooted in, and only tenable
through, their own personal increase day by day in consecration and
likeness to the Saviour, in possession of the Spirit, and in loving
fear of the Lord.